A black sedan rolled north on Jarvis Avenue from 132nd Street shortly after midnight, and someone inside opened fire on a parked car where 14-year-old Elijah Davenport was hanging out with friends. He was struck in the upper back, and within an hour he was dead. Eighteen months later, no one has been arrested, and investigators say the boy was killed only because he was mistaken for someone he was not.
Investigators Confirm Mistaken Identity Behind the Shooting
In a public appeal made on Sunday, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Homicide Bureau said Davenport was erroneously identified as a gang member and targeted amid escalating rival street gang violence in the neighborhood, even though he had no gang ties. As reported by NBC Los Angeles, Davenport was hanging out with friends in a vehicle on a Friday night in South Los Angeles when the gunfire erupted. A 15-year-old friend who was with him was not injured in the attack.
Homicide investigators say the suspect vehicle approached traveling northbound on Jarvis Avenue before an occupant opened fire into the parked car where Davenport sat. Security camera video released by the sheriff's department shows the black sedan fleeing the scene heading north on Main Street, though the footage shows it did not go past 108th Street and Main Street. Sheriff's Lt. Steve Dejong said investigators strongly believe the suspects live in the general area, according to the same NBC Los Angeles report.
A Life Cut Short in Willowbrook
Davenport was shot in the 13100 block of Jarvis Avenue in Willowbrook, an unincorporated Los Angeles County enclave sitting between West Athens, Gardena, and Compton, which places jurisdiction under the Sheriff's Century Station rather than the Los Angeles Police Department, per CBS News. He was pronounced dead early on March 1, 2025, with the Los Angeles County Office of Medical Examiner listing the cause of death as a gunshot wound to the chest, according to Hollywood LA News.
Davenport was a ninth-grade student at Centennial High School in Compton and is survived by his mother, Mercedes Roberson, and two younger siblings, ages 10 and 1, the outlet reports. Community members organized local fundraising efforts to help cover funeral costs following his death. Roberson has said she thinks about Elijah every day and that he mattered. A family friend named Zekiah said Elijah was a child with his whole life ahead of him.
A Neighborhood Scarred by Repeated Gunfire
Davenport's killing came less than a month after a separate mass shooting on the adjacent 13200 block of Jarvis Avenue near Athens Park left two men dead and five others injured, according to KFI AM 640. That earlier attack underscored a pattern of violent, territorial gunfire along the same stretch of residential street, one that has put area residents at risk regardless of any gang affiliation.
The broader crime picture in the region is more mixed. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department reported a 10% reduction in Part 1 violent and property crime across its overall patrol jurisdictions last month, along with a steeper 21% drop in neighboring Compton, according to the City of Compton. Even so, unsolved drive-by cases like Davenport's persist in pockets of South Los Angeles where rival gang disputes continue to flare.
Reward Money and a Public Health Response
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors routinely authorizes public rewards, often between $10,000 and $20,000, sponsored by district supervisors for anonymous tips submitted to Crime Stoppers in unsolved Sheriff's Homicide Bureau cases, the Los Angeles Times reports. Solving cases like this one often hinges on tips from residents willing to come forward.
Willowbrook is also covered by Los Angeles County's Trauma Prevention Initiative, a public health program expanded in 2021 by the Board of Supervisors that deploys community intervention workers to mediate gang rivalries and try to prevent retaliatory violence, according to the county's Department of Public Health. Under California Penal Code Section 26100, discharging a firearm from a moving vehicle is a felony punishable by up to seven years in state prison, and gang enhancements under PC 186.22 can add severe consecutive terms for both a shooter and a getaway driver, per Jones Trial Attorneys.
Investigation Remains Open
Hoodline previously reported on the initial appeal for the shooter and on the earlier mass shooting nearby. The identity of whoever was inside the black sedan remains the central open question in the case, with no arrests made despite the released footage tracking the vehicle's escape toward Main Street. Anyone with information about Elijah Davenport's murder is asked to call 323-890-5500 or contact Crime Stoppers.
